Dockyard fined £60,000 for asbestos exposure

The dockyard pleaded guilty to exposing asbestos

A company which refits warships and submarines for the Royal Navy in Plymouth has been ordered to pay £60,000 for exposing 24 workers to asbestos dust.

Devonport Management Limited (DML) was fined £50,000 plus £10,000 costs after admitted failing to discharge its duties under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.

The men from subcontractors Try-Accord Limited and Lorne Stewart Limited had been brought in to refurbish a building at Devonport Dockyard between May and August last year.

They were told by Devonport Management Limited (DML) there was no record of asbestos.

But as they cut through walls the substance was released exposing three men in particular, but possibly 24 in total, to the highly poisonous dust.

Guilty plea

DML pleaded guilty to the offence at court in August.

Tests showed that on average over a three-day period between May and August last year, the men could have been exposed to twice the allowed amount of asbestos - and possibly as much as 90 times the safe levels.

In court, DML admitted its tests prior to renovation work had not been detailed enough but added that work was stopped as soon as the substance was discovered.

The Health and Safety Executive said the men exposed to the dust may develop asbestosis or cancer in up to 40 years time, but it was impossible to tell.